The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to combined cycle (CC) power plants. More specifically, the subject matter relates to a system and method for start-up of a CC power plant.
CC power plants are power generation units that can include gas turbines (GT), heat recovery steam generators (HRSG), and steam turbines (ST). For illustrative purposes, the GT can be operated to generate power and the exhaust gas generated during the GT operation is channeled to the HRSG. The thermal energy of the exhaust gas is used to generate steam in the HRSG. The generated steam is channeled into the ST to further generate power.
The start-up of the CC power plant is usually characterized by drastic transients that can affect the life of the CC power plant components and the amount of emissions (i.e., Nitrogen Oxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, or the like) released into the atmosphere. During start-up of the CC power plant, the temperatures of the CC power plant components (for example, the ST rotors) are often low. If the temperature of the steam channeled into the ST is higher than the temperature of the ST rotors, the ST rotors may get damaged. Thus, standard start-up procedures operate the GT at a low load (i.e., power generated by the GT) in order to generate steam at lower temperatures and prevent damage to the CC power plant components. But, operating the GT at lower loads has other issues, for example, higher level of emissions, longer waiting time to generate steam in the HRSG, or the like.
Thus, there is always a need for an enhanced system and method for start-up of a CC power plant.